incoming (2006-25)

Metro Pulse Staff

11:00 PM, Jun 21, 2006

Film Buffering

Shedding Light

Nary a Wide Glide

The Law and John Weaver

USA! USA!

Where It Gets Complicated

Business…let’s get this straight. Tennessee is looking to aid another industry, just as they have helped the auto industry, for instance, in bringing its revenue to the state treasury. Business, plain and simple, isn’t “show art,” it is show business.

Could the producers of the documentaries or late-night horror shows benefit from the incentives? Perhaps, if they have concepts Hollywood wants to utilize. They still have to have their own budgets in place. The state is getting into the producing of projects.

Tennessee, just like Hollywood, is looking for something that will generate revenue. Not to create a culture. We aren’t talking about art for art’s sake here. I don’t think we are talking about art at all. Films and television programs are made by craftspeople, and craftspeople can from time to time make art in some people’s eyes. But we are talking about generating income.

There are many people in Tennessee that want a film and TV industry here. Bringing new companies in to generate more revenue is the name of the business. If production companies here feel they are getting a raw deal in Tennessee, they should relocate to Georgia, North Carolina or Mississippi. They now all offer incentives to film businesses that would welcome their business revenue to grow their tax base. Companies relocate to their benefit regularly. Perhaps they should fill out the grant proposals for their future shows instead of worrying about what never happened in the past.

The specific criteria for the incentive package are still being crafted. But the main goal here will be what will create jobs and infuse areas with revenue that a portion of [which] will turn into tax revenue.

I feel I should disclose that I am a grip in the film business. While I don’t live in East Tennessee, I do have a home in Tennessee. I know Tennessee has lost films because the incentives weren’t in place. I want my industry supported by my state. It is an industry that can make income for my home state.

And I just have to ask: Why didn’t Bagwell Communications start up in New York City? Perhaps the company wanted a fertile location to shovel its manure?

Darryl Wilson

Shedding Light

Michael J. Rodriguez

Nary a Wide Glide

Jimmie Warwick

The Law and John Weaver

The requirements to establish a county government independent of the state were specifically set forth by the legislature. Knox County failed to follow all the requirements. That much is now abundantly clear.

Metro Pulse
editors mention the Tennessee Supreme Court’s ruling in the Shelby County term-limits case as support. The problem is the Supreme Court was not asked and did not have a case before it, which called Shelby County’s entire charter into question. It had only the term limits amendment. But why let such trivial things as facts and law get in the way, right?

Metro Pulse
, like some other pundits and politicians, want to shoot the messenger, one Chancellor John Weaver. I hope Mayor Ragsdale and County Commission can fix the problems. It seems in no one’s best interest to have to start over. But, that doesn’t justify ignoring the law. We don’t need judges who make decisions based on politics or convenience. We need judges like John Weaver who uphold the law, even when doing so might not be popular.

Chad Tindell

USA! USA!

While I can’t say I have ever gotten the communist line, I usually get the “soccer is for pussies” or insert whatever derogatory name for homosexual that is being used these days. The best is the blank stares I get when telling people I am a member of Sam’s Army (the official “fan club” or, as I refer to them, the Men’s National Team hooligans). If Mr. Basilio had sat with that crew at the game in Nashville, it would be a different story as far as the nerd comment goes. When I went to Chicago (USA vs. England) and to Columbus, Ohio (USA vs. Mexico, where we won 2-0 (again) and qualified for the WC) the crowd was louder for the whole 90 minutes (especially the Mexico game, because 95 percent of the crowd was U.S. fans) than I have
ever
heard Neyland Stadium.

What kills me is all the naysayers this go-round. No one who is just a casual observer is giving the U.S. MNT a chance in the WC. Yes, we got stomped by Czech Republic, but we managed to tie Italy while playing the entire second half a man down. We showed up finally. Everybody contributed, which is something that didn’t happen the first game. Clint Dempsey showed the world the MLS is a quality league by running at the Italian defense. Reyna actually made smart passes, and Landon Donovan distributed well. If we play the same way against Ghana, they don’t stand a chance. We showed the world that even with the referees against us (our two red cards were major bollocks), we are a force to be reckoned with.

I know that this will be distributed on the day we play Ghana, but everyone should be behind this team. We’re not done yet. After we beat Ghana, if Italy beats Czech Republic, we will advance to the Round of 16.

One last thing: MLS now averages 11-18k a game in attendance. The league is only in its 11th season. America is slowly but surely embracing this beautiful game.

Michael Gilbert

Where It Gets Complicated

Let us say that one biologically diverse couple, comprising an obviously biological man and a well-defined biological woman, enters into a legal heterosexual marriage. So far, so good. But then, what if one of the members of this union decides to have gender-reassignment surgery? Does the couple, now either both biological men or both biological women, remain legally married? If not, would the non-changed member of the union be compelled to have his or her gender reassigned as well in order to retain the legal demographic of participants?

Or, perhaps even more troubling, what is to stop a true hermaphrodite—biologically both male and female, thus fulfilling within a single person the definition of a marriage-legal couple—from marrying his or her own self?

Indeed, such prospects augur a busy future for both the government and the legal profession. Fortunately for our great republic, we have already solved all of our other problems—lack of health care, wars based on lies, corporate and governmental corruption, global warming—so that we can spend our time more productively, in endless litigation over who does what to whom in their bedrooms.